The Difference Between Conditioned Arisen Dharmas and Non-Conditioned Arisen Dharmas

The six consciousnesses, six sense objects, and five sense faculties that arise dependently are prone to dispersal and decay; therefore, dependently arisen dharmas are easily destroyed, easily changed, and easily eliminated; the non-dependently-arisen manas is not prone to dispersal, not easily destroyed, not easily changed, and not easily eliminated. It is very difficult to change the mental nature of the manas, and that is why it is said that cultivation is not easy, and liberation is not easy.

As for the non-dependently-arisen tathāgatagarbha, it will never disperse or decay, never mutate, cannot be changed, and cannot be eliminated. Therefore, in the practice of cultivation, there is no need to cultivate or change the tathāgatagarbha; one need only realize that the tathāgatagarbha is real and that all dharmas of the five-aggregate world are false. Then, with one's own eyes, one sees that all dharmas are products of the tathāgatagarbha and can exist only by relying on the tathāgatagarbha; before the tathāgatagarbha, all dharmas remain hidden and do not manifest. In this way, one will no longer grasp at any dharma—not even grasping at the tathāgatagarbha itself. The mind is greatly empty, utterly empty—this is the great liberation.

Without meditative concentration (samādhi), one sees all dharmas as simply all dharmas; with meditative concentration and wisdom, one sees that all dharmas are not [merely] all dharmas—one can see the true appearance of dharmas, can see their substance and root. Afterward, ignorance is extinguished, the mind is transformed, and liberation is attained.